JAPAN WATCH : American Yokozuna - latimes YOU ARE HERE: LAT Home → Collections JAPAN WATCH : American Yokozuna January 27, 1993 In the arcane world of Japan's sumo wrestling, history has been made. The first foreigner, or gaijin, has become grand champion of a sport unique to Japan. And he is an American, at that. Chad Rowan, 23, whose professional name is Akebono, was unanimously recommended to become the grand champion, or yokozuna, by an advisory panel to sumo's ruling body. The 6-foot-8, 466-pound Akebono, who played basketball at Hawaii Pacific College, was bestowed the honor after winning, as required, his second consecutive tournament, a contest held last Sunday. The issue of giving sumo's highest honor to a non-Japanese had sparked considerable controversy, beginning last year when Salevaa Atisanoe, a 576-pound Hawaiian known as Konishiki, was denied the grand championship. The denial became a metaphor for a closed Japan, unwilling to open its markets and society to outsiders.

Now, Japan's sumo ruling body wisely has resisted xenophobic and chauvinistic pressures. Besides distinguishing himself by reaching sumo's pinnacle faster than any Japanese, Akebono is perceived as having hinkaku, a grace or dignity befitting a grand champion. Sumo, a sport in which one giant athlete tries to push, slap and shove another out of a ring, is steeped in ancient traditions and the Shinto religion. Legend has it that the first two wrestlers were gods. Akebono will participate in a three-hour Shinto ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Akebono, whose name means sunrise, brings a new dawning to the ancient sport. MORE: In Japan, Sumo Is Dominated by Foreigners - The New York Times The New York Times Sports |In Japan, Sumo Is Dominated by Foreigners Search In Japan, Sumo Is Dominated by Foreigners By DANIEL KRIEGER Continue reading the main story Photo The sumo wrestler Baruto, who is from Estonia, was thrown to the ground by Kaio during a match in Osaka in 2009.

Credit Kyodo News, via Associated Press TOKYO — On the first day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, Japanese fans were hopeful that 2013 might bring some change: an end to the protracted losing streak by Japanese wrestlers. But if anyone needed a reminder of how unlikely that was, all they had to do was look up at the giant portraits hanging around the upper part of the Ryogoku Kokugikan arena, showing the winners of the past 32 tournaments around the country. Not one of those portraits was of a Japanese. Just four Mongolians, an Estonian and a Bulgarian account for all 32 of those victories, which date to 2007. The last time a Japanese wrestler won was in January 2006. But some observers say it is just a matter of time before the current wave of foreign dominance passes and a Japanese wrestler gets promoted to the rank of grand champion once again. The first foreign-born wrestler to break through to the top was Chad Rowan, who left his native Hawaii to enter the world of professional sumo at 18. At the time, he was not thought to have great promise.

It was his more athletically endowed younger brother that recruiters had their eye on. But five years later, in January 1993, Rowan became the first non-Japanese sumo wrestler to reach the sport’s highest rank — yokozuna, or grand champion. Advertisement Continue reading the main story In 1999, another Hawaiian claimed that title, followed in 2003 and 2007 by two Mongolians, who also are among the top five all-time championship winners. In 2012, one more Mongolian became yokozuna, the 70th in history. (There can be multiple yokozuna at a time, or none.) During Rowan’s heyday, two Japanese brothers from a prominent sumo family each became yokozuna, which helped fuel a sumo boom, but now it has been 10 years since the last Japanese grand champion retired and seven years since a Japanese wrestler won a grand championship, for which there are competitions six times a year.

At the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, foreign-born wrestlers made up one-third of the 42 rikishi who occupy the top division, yet they make up just seven percent of the 613 total wrestlers in the sport. Though the media and fans make much of what some characterize as the disgrace of foreign dominance — the two current yokozuna are both Mongolian — those in the sumo community do not typically acknowledge any Japanese versus non-Japanese rivalry. “When I was wrestling,” said Rowan, who is known in sumo as Akebono, “I wasn’t thinking, ‘I’m an American, I’m going to go out there, plant my flag in the middle of the ring and take on the Japanese.”’ He said he always considered himself a sumo wrestler first and foremost, the product of the Japan Sumo Association, the governing body of the pro sport. Nevertheless, the persistent drought does put pressure on Japanese wrestlers. Standing at 2.03 meters, or 6-foot-8, Rowan, now 43, attributes his success in part to being able to overpower his smaller Japanese opponents.

(He once tipped the scales at more than 225 kilograms, or 500 pounds.) “We were just brute strength,” he said, speaking of himself and a few other top-ranked Hawaiians in the 1990s. “We won fast or we lost fast. We weren’t too technical.” But now, he said, foreign wrestlers, who mostly hail from Mongolia and Eastern Europe, are employing more advanced techniques to give them an edge. Advertisement The foreigners come from countries with long traditions of other forms of wrestling, said Mark Buckton, sumo columnist for the Japan Times, and some of the techniques they implement, like leg sweeps and lateral movement, throw Japanese opponents off. Video A Slump for Japanese Sumo Wrestlers It’s been seven years since a Japanese wrestler has won a grand championship. Sumo is dominated by foreign-born athletes today. By Daniel Krieger on Publish Date January 24, 2013. . Watch in Times Video » embed “For Japanese, sumo is just about going forward,” he said. “That’s the honorable way to win.

But they are stuck in the old way, and the Mongolians and Eastern Europeans have really developed the sport more.” Another reason why the Japanese have lost their grip on sumo has to do with shifts in Japanese society, observers say. There was a time when sumo offered a way for disadvantaged teenage boys, especially those from big rural families, to escape poverty and make something of themselves, much as basketball once did in the United States. But with Japan’s declining birth rate and greater affluence, the number of annual sumo applicants has been steadily falling. (Last year, it hit an all-time low of 56; at its peak in 1992, there were more than 200.) And while many schools used to offer sumo, few do now. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up “There’s a lot more competition from ‘cooler’ sports,” like baseball and soccer, said John Gunning, a sumo writer and commentator. “Sumo is seen as old-fashioned.” Non-Japanese wrestlers, however, still see it as a ticket to a brighter future.

“Most of the guys who come to Japan to take up sumo come from poor families,” said Hiroshi Morita, a sumo announcer for NHK. “So they have a big hungry spirit to succeed and support the family back home.” One attempt to level the playing field, initiated by the Japan Sumo Association, which declined to be interviewed for this story, came about more than a decade ago when the association implemented an unspoken rule to limit the growing number of non-Japanese wrestlers. “The sumo elders saw that there was a danger of this Japanese sport being invaded by foreigners,” said Morita, “so they were saying, ‘enough is enough.”’ The rule, which allows just one foreign wrestler per stable, resulted in much more careful vetting of foreign recruits, whereas in the days of Rowan, who had many foreigners in his stable, they were hauled in by the bunch and sometimes stuck together. Advertisement Continue reading the main story It remains to be seen what effect their reduced numbers will have on the sport in the long run. “The peak has passed for foreign wrestlers,” Gunning said, noting that some promising Japanese talent was coming up through the ranks.

For Japanese wrestlers and their fans, it is just a matter of riding out the Mongolian wave. Morita, though, is not as sanguine about the prospects of Japanese wrestlers’ reclaiming the top tier in the foreseeable future. “I think Mongolian dominance will continue for a very long time,” he said. (Of the 43 foreign-born wrestlers now, 27 are Mongolian.) At the New Year Grand Tournament in Tokyo, some Japanese fans, who have been awaiting the next homegrown sumo star, were bracing themselves for what could be the 41st consecutive loss. (The tournament runs through Sunday.) Spectators ran the gamut from the merely curious to diehard fans, like Sayori Gloster, 35, who had come with her husband and sister. An avid sumo fan since childhood, she lamented the current state of affairs. “It’s so unfortunate that Japanese wrestlers haven’t been winning,” she said. “Considering that sumo is the national sport, it’s a bit embarrassing.” Hiroko Ito, who never misses a grand championship, said she admired foreign-born wrestlers for their drive.

“Wrestlers who come from abroad really work hard,” she said, sitting in her kimono as two rikishi geared up for a bout in the ring behind her. “They’re determined to move up. But Japanese wrestlers seem satisfied with just getting by. I think it would be nice if they pushed themselves harder.” A version of this article appears in print on January 25, 2013, in The International Herald Tribune. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe What caused the decline of sumo wrestling in Japan? | Sports on Earth Wladimir Balentien of the Yakult Swallows hit his 55th home run of the season in Tokyo last night, tying Sadaharu… More» "I think the decline in sumo's popularity has been gradual with the advent of alternative pastimes -- including soccer and other big-time sports available real-time and worldwide -- until recent years when a series of scandals erupted," says veteran sportswriter Shigemi Sato, now in his late 50s.

"Mixed martial arts, K-1, PRIDE, etc., might have also lured away fans from the largely ritualistic sumo." Sato notes how once upon a time, sumo was one of the staples of sports viewing. "I am part of Japan's post-World War II baby-boom generation who grew up watching sumo, baseball and pro wrestling on television in its formative years," he said. "Those were the three pillars of spectators' sports at that time when soccer was more or less a minor game here." In recent years Mongolians have ruled sumo. Both of the current yokozuna (Hakuho and Harumafuji) hail from the nation. Hakuho has captured 26 titles and, at the age of 28, it seems inevitable that he will establish a new record for tournament victories. It has now been more than 10 years since a Japanese sumo wrestler held the rank of yokozuna and seven years since the last victory by a Japanese in a top tournament -- pretty shocking statistics in a homogenous society like Japan and a key factor in the decline of interest in sumo.

Though some may find it distasteful to say, the reality is that trying to market a sport full of foreigners to a Japanese audience is a very tough sell. Best-selling author Robert Whiting, who penned the classic "You Gotta Have Wa" and first arrived in Japan in 1962, recalls a time when sumo had its own matinee idols. "When I first came to Japan, yokozuna Taiho and Kashiwado were ruling sumo," Whiting said "Taiho (who still holds the record with 32 tournament titles) was a tall, well-proportioned white Russian (whose mother was Japanese) who put teenage girls in a swoon. He got thousands of marriage proposals from young women around the country in his prime before he finally settled down." Whiting cited a famous phrase from the 1960's about what Japanese once considered cool. "There was the saying that went the three most popular things in Japan were Taiho, Kyojin (Yomiuri Giants) and Tamagoyaki (grilled egg)." Over the past decade fewer young Japanese boys have taken the test to try and enter the sumo ranks, reflecting a troubling trend.

Where once the sport captivated youth, it now seems to bore them. "Teenage boys these days don't want to subject themselves to the misery of life in the sumo stable," Whiting said. "They want to enjoy their youth instead of being subjected to beatings by senior wrestlers every day and then having to clean them up in the toilet." Though sumo is still televised live daily by national broadcaster NHK during each tournament, the top wrestlers enter the dohyo (ring) between 4:30-6 p.m., making it a challenge for many to see the bouts. That time period is when people are either at or on the way home from work and students are often participating in after-school activities. If the JSA was serious about promoting the sport, it would move the bouts into prime time when they would have a better chance at garnering a captive audience. A June survey by the online pollster Research Panel of nearly 150,000 people showed that 28.7 percent liked sumo, 6.1 percent did not like it, and 65.2 percent had no interest in it. Staggering evidence that sumo's future is in real jeopardy.

A failure to modernize has hurt sumo wrestling in its fight to stay popular in Japan. (Getty Images) Sports columnist Dave Wiggins, who was a sumo analyst for 17 years for NHK, believes the lack of outreach by the JSA has been a real oversight. "When people stopped coming to sumo, sumo should have gone out to the people, made wrestlers more accessible -- personal appearances, school visits, clinics for youngsters to get them interested either as fans or performers," he said. "If a rikishi comes to your locale or school for a meet and greet or demonstration, he becomes your favorite and gives you a reason to watch and follow the sport, maybe even enter it. "For too long sumo existed with a 'Here we are for your adoration' attitude. When times changed and people were looking elsewhere for their entertainment, sumo failed to modernize its product push." One problem plaguing sumo is the fact that the top tournaments are located in the same place, at the same time every year, depriving fans in other areas the chance to see the real action. There are several regional tournaments held over a few days in between the big events, but these are really nothing more than glorified exhibitions.

While others sports have branched out and changed over time -- like soccer with goal-line technology, Major League Baseball with interleague play, the NBA with the three-point shot and the NFL with the two-point conversion -- sumo seems trapped in a time capsule it cannot get out of. A defining moment for sumo occurred in January 2003 when the highly popular Takanohana was forced to retire prematurely at the age of 30 after suffering a devastating knee injury during a bout in May 2001. Takanohana's departure dealt a massive blow, as he possessed the good looks, skill and charisma that attracted fans. Wiggins cites the absence of a native star as a major issue for sumo. "The lack of a 'hometown hero,' i.e. a top Japanese performer, is a key problem," he said. "Since Takanohana left, foreigners have ruled. Sumo desperately needs a Japanese meal ticket. No matter how much one likes the sport itself, it always makes things more enjoyable if a local favorite does well.

It jacks up attendance and popularity." Takanohana, who was once engaged to starlet Rie Miyazawa back when sumo was in vogue, has led calls for reform and promotion of the sport in the years since his retirement, but has gone up against tradition in his efforts to bring about true change. The 40-year-old Tokyo native, who hails from a family with a long history in sumo, is now on the Board of Directors of the JSA and runs his own Takanohana Stable. Though he still cuts an impressive figure after 10 years out of the ring, the former star has learned first-hand that it is tough for one man to effect change in a land where consensus still rules. "I would like to listen to young stable masters as much as possible and take their opinions to board meetings," Takanohana said upon his election to the Board in 2010. There are nine other members on the JSA Board, and not all maintain the vision that Takanohana has for the future of sumo. The reality is that Takanohana and others hoping for change face a monumental battle in going against tradition and history.

There is a saying that foreigners learn quickly after a short time in Japan: "Yes means maybe. Maybe means difficult. Difficult means impossible." To say it will be "difficult" for sumo to alter its present course is to acknowledge that it is on a path to oblivion, and that is a damn shame. The sport deserves a better fate. * * * Jack Gallagher is the executive sports editor of The Japan Times in Tokyo. He has been a sports journalist in Japan for 18 years and has been honored for his writing both domestically and internationally. He was previously an executive in public relations for the NBA and NFL Europe. In Sumo’s Birthplace, a Drought of Champions - The New York Times The New York Times Sports |In Sumo’s Birthplace, a Drought of Champions Search In Sumo’s Birthplace, a Drought of Champions By DANIEL KRIEGER Continue reading the main story TOKYO — On the first day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament last Sunday, fans here were hopeful that 2013 might bring change: an end to the protracted losing streak by Japanese wrestlers.

But the only reminders anyone needed of that unlikelihood were the giant portraits of the winners of the last 32 Japanese tournaments that were hanging at Ryogoku Kokugikan arena. Not one of the winners was Japanese. Four Mongolians, an Estonian and a Bulgarian account for those victories, dating to 2007. The last time a Japanese wrestler won was in January 2006. But some say it is only a matter of time before a Japanese wrestler is promoted to the rank of grand champion once again. The first foreign-born wrestler to break through to the top was Chad Rowan, who at 18 left his native Hawaii in 1988 to enter the world of professional sumo, which orginated in Japan. At the time, he was not thought to have great promise. It was his more athletic younger brother whom recruiters had their eye on. But in January 1993, Rowan became the first non-Japanese sumo wrestler to reach the sport’s highest rank, yokozuna, or grand champion.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story In 1999, another Hawaiian claimed that title, followed in 2003 and 2007 by two Mongolians, who are also among the top-five career championship winners. In 2012, another Mongolian became yokozuna, the 70th in history. (There can be multiple yokozuna at a time, or none.) During Rowan’s heyday, two Japanese brothers from a prominent sumo family each became yokozuna, which helped fuel a sumo boom. But it has been 10 years since the last Japanese grand champion retired and seven years since a Japanese wrestler won one of the six annual grand championships. At the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, foreign-born wrestlers made up a third of the 42 rikishi who occupy the top division, yet they make up only 7 percent of the 613 total wrestlers in the sport. Although the news media and fans make much of what some characterize as the disgrace of foreign dominance — the two current yokozuna are Mongolian — those involved in sumo do not typically acknowledge any rivalry.

“When I was wrestling I wasn’t thinking, I’m an American, I’m going to go out there, plant my flag in the middle of the ring and take on the Japanese,” said Rowan, who is known in sumo as Akebono. He said he always considered himself a sumo wrestler first, the product of the Japan Sumo Association, the governing body of the professional sport. Nevertheless, the title drought puts pressure on Japanese wrestlers. Standing 6 feet 8 inches, Rowan, now 43, attributes his success in part to being able to overpower his smaller Japanese opponents. (He once weighed more than 500 pounds.) “We were just brute strength,” he said, speaking of himself and a few other top-ranked Hawaiians in the 1990s. “We won fast, or we lost fast. We weren’t too technical.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story But now, he said, foreign wrestlers, who mostly hail from Mongolia and Eastern Europe, are using more advanced techniques to get an edge. They come from countries with long traditions of other forms of wrestling, said Mark Buckton, a sumo columnist for The Japan Times.

And some of their techniques, like leg sweeps and lateral movement, throw Japanese opponents off. Photo In 1993, Chad Rowan of Hawaii, who is known in sumo as Akebono, was the first non-Japanese wrestler to become a grand champion. Credit Koji Sasahara/Associated Press “For Japanese, sumo is just about going forward,” Buckton said. “That’s the honorable way to win. But they are stuck in the old way, and the Mongolians and Eastern Europeans have really developed the sport more.” Another reason the Japanese have lost their grip on sumo has to do with shifts in society, some say. At one time, sumo offered a way for disadvantaged teenage boys, especially those from big rural families, to escape poverty and make something of themselves. But with Japan’s declining birthrate and greater affluence, the annual number of sumo applicants has been steadily falling. Last year, it hit a record low of 56; at its peak in 1992, there were more than 200. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to.

Sign Up “There’s a lot more competition from cooler sports,” like baseball and soccer, said John Gunning, a sumo writer and commentator. “Sumo is seen as old-fashioned.” Non-Japanese wrestlers, however, still see it as a ticket to a brighter future. “Most of the guys who come to Japan to take up sumo come from poor families,” said Hiroshi Morita, a sumo announcer for NHK. “So they have a big, hungry spirit to succeed and support the family back home.” One attempt to level the playing field, initiated by the Japan Sumo Association, which declined to comment for this article, came more than a decade ago. It allowed only one foreign wrestler in each stable, resulting in much more careful vetting of non-Japanese recruits. In Rowan’s day, many foreigners were in his stable; they were hauled in by the bunch and sometimes stuck together. It remains to be seen what effect their reduced numbers will have on the sport in the long run. “The peak has passed for foreign wrestlers,” Gunning said, noting that some promising Japanese wrestlers were moving through the ranks.

Morita, though, is not as sanguine about the prospects for Japanese reclaiming the top tier in the foreseeable future. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “I think Mongolian dominance will continue for a very long time,” he said. (Of the 43 foreign-born wrestlers now, 27 are Mongolian.) At the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, some Japanese fans, who have been awaiting the next homegrown star, were bracing themselves for what could be the 41st consecutive loss. (The tournament ends Sunday.) Spectators ran the gamut from the merely curious to die-hard fans like Sayori Gloster, 35, who had come with her husband and sister. A sumo fan since childhood, she lamented the current state of affairs. “It’s so unfortunate that Japanese wrestlers haven’t been winning,” she said. “Considering that sumo is the national sport, it’s a bit embarrassing.” Hiroko Ito, who said she never missed a grand championship, said she admired foreign-born wrestlers for their drive. “Wrestlers who come from abroad really work hard,” she said, sitting in her kimono as two rikishi geared up for a bout in the ring behind her.

“They’re determined to move up. But Japanese wrestlers seem satisfied with just getting by. I think it would be nice if they pushed themselves harder.” A version of this article appears in print on January 27, 2013, on Page SP6 of the New York edition with the headline: In Sumo’s Birthplace, a Drought of Champions. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Sumo Sumo More... Sumo Sumo is a Japanese style of wrestling and Japan's national sport. It originated in ancient times as a performance to entertain the Shinto deities . Many rituals with religious background, such as the symbolic purification of the ring with salt, are still followed today. In line with tradition, only men practice the sport professionally in Japan. The rules are simple: the wrestler who first exits the ring or touches the ground with any part of his body besides the soles of his feet loses. Matches take place on an elevated ring (dohyo), which is made of clay and covered in a layer of sand. A contest usually lasts only a few seconds, but in rare cases can take a minute or more.

There are no weight restrictions or classes in sumo, meaning that wrestlers can easily find themselves matched off against someone many times their size. As a result, weight gain is an essential part of sumo training. Pre-match ritual Tournaments and Ranking Hierarchy The governing body of professional sumo is the Japan Sumo Association. Six tournaments are held every year: three in Tokyo (January, May and September) and one each in Osaka (March), Nagoya (July) and Fukuoka (November). Each tournament lasts for 15 days during which each wrestler performs in one match per day except lower ranked wrestlers who perform in fewer matches. All sumo wrestlers are classified in a ranking hierarchy (banzuke), which gets updated after each tournament based on the wrestlers' performance. Wrestlers with positive records (more wins than losses) move up the hierarchy, while those with negative records get demoted. The top division is called "Makuuchi" and the second division is called "Juryo". At the pinnacle of the sumo hierarchy stands the yokozuna (grand champion). Unlike wrestlers in lower ranks, a yokozuna cannot be demoted, but he will be expected to retire when his performance begins to worsen.

Kokugikan, the sumo stadium in the Ryogoku district of Tokyo, where tournaments are held How to see a sumo tournament The best way to see sumo is to attend a sumo tournament. Tickets are sold for each day of the 15-day tournaments. They can be purchase in advance through the official vendor or via buysumotickets.com . Alternatively, they can be purchased at convenience stores (some Japanese skills required) or at the stadiums. Three types of seats are available to regular visitors: Ringside seats: Located closest to the ring, ringside seats are most expensive and most difficult to get. Ticket holders sit on cushions on the floor and are exposed to the risk of injury due to wrestlers flying into the spectators. Box seats: The rest of the stadium's first floor consists of Japanese style box seats, which generally seat four people (although there are a few with higher and lower capacities, as well). Shoes are removed, and spectators sit on cushions. Tickets are sold for entire boxes regardless of whether they are fully occupied or not, i.e. two people using a 4-seat box will still have to purchase all four tickets. Box seats are further classified into A, B and C boxes according to distance to the ring.

Balcony seats: On the second floor balcony, there are several rows of Western-style seats. Balcony seats, too, are further classified into A, B and C seats depending on distance to the ring. Furthermore, there is one section for exclusive use by holders of same-day tickets, the cheapest ticket type that can only be purchased on the day at the stadium. The stadium often sells out, especially on weekends and national holidays . But even if a day is sold out in advance, a limited number of same-day balcony seat tickets are sold on the day at the stadium. Sumo tickets go on sale roughly one month before the start of each tournament. Box seats at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium A tournament day Lower division matches start from 8:30 (from 10:00 on days 13-15), second division (Juryo) matches from 15:00 and top division (Makuuchi) matches from 16:00. Ring entering ceremonies between divisions are also interesting to watch. The highest ranked wrestlers have their matches just before 18:00.

On the last day of each tournament, the schedule is shifted forward by 30 minutes to accommodate the victory ceremony at the end. The stadium atmosphere improves with the arrival of more spectators as it gets later in the day when the most spectacular matches happen. Intervals between bouts also lengthen as they include longer preparation times and more pre-match action between the high-ranked wrestlers. We recommend spectators with limited time to be present at the stadium at least for the top division action between 15:30 and 18:00. Inside the Kokugikan stadium in Tokyo Other sumo events For those visiting Japan between sumo tournaments, there are a few other ways to see sumo matches. They include exhibition tournaments that are held across the country in between official tournaments and occasional retirement ceremonies of prominent wrestlers. Retirement ceremonies usually include an exhibition contest, some light-hearted performances by wrestlers and a time-consuming hair cutting ritual to sever the top knot that is symbolic to an active wrestler. See the official website for a calendar. Outside the professional sumo world, there are some universities and high schools that maintain sumo clubs, some of which may be able to accommodate visits by tourists.

Furthermore, there are occasional sumo pereformances or contests at some shrines and festivals . Visiting a sumo stable Perhaps the best way to appreciate sumo besides attending a tournament is to visit a sumo stable to witness a morning practice session. Sumo stables are where the wrestlers live and train together and where all aspects of life, from sleeping and eating to training and free time, are strictly regimented by the stable master. There are about forty stables, all of which are located in the Greater Tokyo Region, especially in Tokyo's Ryogoku district. However, sumo stables are neither public places nor sightseeing spots. Only a small number of stables accept visits by tourists, and they insist that tourists are accompanied by a person who is fluent in Japanese and closely familiar with the customs of the sumo world. Furthermore, visitors are expected to follow the house rules strictly and not disturb the training session. Expect to sit silently on the floor for two to three hours. In practice, it is virtually impossible for foreign tourist to visit a stable on their own. Instead, the recommended way to witness a morning practice is to join a guided tour.

Various organizations and companies offer such tours and typically charge around 10,000 yen for a single person and around 4000 yen for additional group members. Morning practice at a sumo stable Other sumo-related attractions Tokyo 's Ryogoku district has been the center of the sumo world for about two centuries. The district is home to many sumo stables and the Kokugikan sumo stadium where three of the six annual tournaments are held. Below are a few more of Ryogoku's attractions that could be of interest to sumo fans: Sumo Museum Closed: Weekends, national holidays and in between exhibitions Admission: Free This small museum is located inside the Kokugikan sumo stadium. It houses rotating exhibitions about sumo, including a collection of portraits of past and present yokozuna, pictures of significant events in the history of sumo, and ceremonial aprons worn by retired prominent wrestlers. During Tokyo tournaments, the museum is only accessible to tournament ticket holders. Ekoin Temple Before the first sumo stadium was built in 1909, sumo tournaments were held outdoors at Ekoin Temple, just a short walk from Ryogoku Station.

Today, visitors to the temple can see a stone monument on the temple grounds that honors past wrestlers and stable masters. Chanko Nabe Restaurants Chanko nabe is the staple food of sumo wrestlers. It is a hot pot dish that comes in many varieties and contains vegetables , seafood and meat. There is a high concentration of chanko nabe restaurants in the Ryogoku area, many of which are managed by retired wrestlers. Some restaurants even have a dohyo ring in them, which patrons can take pictures with or enter for the experience. Another district in Tokyo with a strong connection to sumo is located around Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine, a couple of kilometers south of Ryogoku: Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine Hours: Always open (Treasure House from 10:00 to 15:30) Closed: No closing days (Treasure House on New Year holidays) Admission: Free (Treasure House 1st floor: 200 yen) Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine was the site where sumo tournaments were held for about a hundred years during the mid Edo Period (1603-1867).

At the shrine grounds today are monuments on which the names of past and present yokozuna and ozeki (the second highest rank of sumo) are inscribed. There is also a small treasure house which displays some sumo-related items such as woodblock prints of wrestlers and old ranking publications on the first floor. Advertisement Yokozuna Kakuryu May Unworthy of Grand Champion Title : Sports and Japan : Zaikei News Home > Sports and Japan > Yokozuna Kakuryu May Unworthy of Grand Champion Title Sports and Japan Yokozuna Kakuryu May Unworthy of Grand Champion Title By Nathan Shiga September 28, 2015 at 2:17 pm Yokozuna Kakuryu won the Fall Tournament.(Photo : Nihon Sumo Kyokai Twitter ) A few episodes ago, Zaikei penned on the growing popularity of Sumo and mentioned certain aspects of Sumo contrary to its century-long tradition. Today, another episode is due on the honor and dignity of Sumo as seen from the viewpoint of shoulds and should-nots of Grand Champion, Yokozuna.

Like Us on Facebook Not that lower-ranking rikishi (wrestlers) may behave as they please on the ring, the Yokozuna (Grand Champion) is a rank of honor and dignity and its holders must strictly live up to it and all the binds and restrictions that entail once promoted to the rank. An instance or two might help you grasp the point. On the 14th day of the Fall tourney, Kakuryu, the lone Yokozuna this tourney with Hakuho sidelined on injury, was pitted against Ozeki (Champion) Kisenosato, a formidable foe no doubt but a rank below himself. At the initial charge, Kakuryu sidestepped to void Kisenosato's head-on attack. The Judge broke them apart as the charge was not properly synchronized. Both charged for the second time, and Kakuryu sidestepped again to take the lead in the bout and downed Kisenosato. To average Sumo enthusiasts the bout might have appeared just another bout, but in the eyes of seasoned Sumo connoiseurs it was a piece of rotten meat dished out by Kakuryu.

A Yokozuna should counter any frontal charge on his chest; whatever reason, sidestepping is a taboo, an act of self-denial, so to speak. Once is bad enough; twice, unprecedented. Short in height, light in weight, Harumafuji, another Yokozuna from Mongolia, has done the sidestepping once - bad enough but never twice in a row in a single bout!. Kakuryu won the championship for the second time. But whether or not he is worthy of the grand title Yokozuna is a serious question wide open for public debate. By tradition, a Yokozuna can not be dethroned. Sumo may be in the vogue temporarily but, should this disgrace to the title of Yokozuna be left unscrutinized Sumo would see its last day in not so distant a future. Related News Yokozuna Hakuho vs Yokozuna Kakuryu - Outdoor Sumo - YouTube Yokozuna Hakuho vs Yokozuna Kakuryu - Outdoor Sumo Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented.

This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 18, 2016 Hakuho vs Kakuryu at Outdoor Sumo at Yasukuni Shrine. Hakuho has been a Yokozuna (sumo champion) since 2007 and Kakuryu since 2014. Category Akebono | Japanese sumo wrestler | Britannica.com Japanese sumo wrestler Alternative Titles: Akebono Tarō, Chadwick Haheo Rowan Akebono Kaahumanu Akebono, original name Chadwick Haheo Rowan, also called (from 1996) Akebono Tarō (born May 8, 1969, Waimanalo, Hawaii, U.S.), American-born Japanese sumo wrestler, who, in January 1993, became the first non-Japanese person to be elevated to yokozuna (grand champion) status, the highest rank in professional sumo. Akebono at his retirement ceremony, 2001. Philbert Ono Rowan grew up on the island of Oahu in Hawaii and entered college there on a basketball scholarship.

In less than a year he had dropped out of school because he had arguments with his coach and found his classes boring. Setting aside a natural interest in language and culture , he took his father’s advice and in 1988 agreed to meet fellow Hawaiian Jesse Kuhaulua, who had become a sumo stablemaster in Japan . Before retiring from sumo competition in 1984, Kuhaulua (under the name Takamiyama) had set a series of virtually unbeatable records as an ozeki (junior champion), the second-highest sumo rank. He persuaded Rowan to join his stable. During his first six months in Japan, Rowan was so homesick that he cried almost every night, and his Japanese was so poor that he could not mix easily with his stablemates. However, during practice Rowan showed amazing strength but had difficulty maintaining his balance because of his towering height (6 feet 8 inches [204 cm]) and enormous weight (roughly 500 pounds [about 225 kg]). With persistence he gradually developed the techniques and skills required for his professional debut in March 1988, taking the name Akebono (“Dawn”).

He breezed through sumo’s lower ranks and junior division, setting performance records along the way. At first, after he had been promoted to the senior division (makuuchi) in 1990, successes were mixed with challenges: he had a mediocre tournament record in 1991, his first full year at that level. Akebono’s fortunes turned around dramatically in 1992. In May he won his first tournament championship, and he was elevated to ozeki rank. He won again in the November tournament and followed it with a second consecutive championship at the January 1993 tournament. Following that victory, he was promoted to yokozuna, a feat no one before him had accomplished in just 30 competitions. Akebono won four of his next eight tournaments in 1993–94 and finished with excellent records in the other four. By mid-1994, however, injuries had begun to plague him, and he was forced to miss an increasing number of tournaments.

Despite those setbacks, he kept returning to the dohyō (sumo ring), and by the time he retired in 2001 he had won 11 championships and had amassed a highly respectable total of 566 victories against 198 losses at the makuuchi level—including a 432–122 record as a yokozuna. In addition, Akebono was awarded four Outstanding Performance and two Fighting Spirit prizes, and although he failed to capture an elusive zenshō-yūshō (a perfect record of 15 victories in a single tournament), he did achieve a 14–1 mark on four occasions. Britannica Stories Akebono - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) (born 1969), U.S. sumo wrestler. In the ancient Japanese sport of sumo, no foreigner had ever been elevated to yokozuna (grand champion) until Hawaiian-born Chadwick Haheo Rowan, known professionally as Akebono, was promoted to that rank in January 1993. Rowan was born near Honolulu on May 8, 1969, and entered college on a basketball scholarship.

In less than a year he had dropped out of school because he had arguments with his coach and found his classes boring. He eventually took his father’s advice and agreed to meet fellow Hawaiian Jesse Kuhaulua, who had become a sumo stablemaster in Japan. Before retiring in 1984, Kuhualua was known as Takamiyama and had set a series of virtually unbeatable records as a junior champion. He persuaded Rowan to join his stable. Article History Yokozuna Harumafuji pulls out of New Year tournament due to ankle injury ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion ( 4 ) TOKYO — The New Year sumo tournament will go ahead without one of its grand champions for the first time in five years, officials said Friday, with Harumafuji sidelined by an ankle injury. Harumafuji, one of two reigning yokozuna, will skip the tournament due to start at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan on Sunday, the Japan Sumo Association said.

The 29-year-old Mongolian, who reached the sport’s top rank in September 2012, twisted his right ankle and partially tore ligaments when he slipped while running in training in late December, his stablemaster Isegahama said. “I really wanted to compete. But I would have worsened the condition if I compete with my left ankle as it is,” Harumafuji, whose real name is Davaanyam Byambadorj, told reporters at his stable. Harumafuji won the last of the year’s six, 15-day tournaments, held in Fukuoka in November. It will be the first time for a yokozuna to miss a regular tournament since now-retired Asashoryu skipped one in November 2008. Harumafuji’s absence will leave fellow Mongolian Hakuho as the lone grand champion competing in the January “basho” (tournament). “I will train myself all over again, mentally and physically, and try to turn my frustration into power at the spring (March) tournament,” said Harumafuji, whose 133 kilograms make him a fairly light sumo star.

Hakuho, 28, has set his sights high for the New Year after winning 27 tournaments in a 13-year career that has included six-and-a-half years as yokozuna. He is aiming to break the record of 32 career tournament wins set by the late home-grown yokozuna Taiho. (c) 2014 AFP In Blow to Sumo, Champion Retires In Blow to Sumo, Champion Retires Daily News Article — Posted on February 19, 2010 Jump to... Just Questions (by Yuka Hayashi, The Wall Street Journal, wsj.com) TOKYO — The grand champion of sumo, Japan’s ancient national sport, made a surprise announcement [earlier this month] that he would retire as a wrestler after his drunken brawl on a Tokyo street made headlines. The resignation of the 29-year-old Mongolian wrestler known as Asashoryu is a huge blow to the sport, which has suffered from shrinking fan base and a series of mishaps in recent years. He had just won his 25th national tournament last month and is third on the all-time list of title winners.

“I have caused a lot of trouble for so many people,” Asashoryu said at a press conference. “I decided to step down to bring this to a closure.” The resignation of the yokozuna — the title given to highest-ranking wrestlers — came after Japanese weekly magazines reported late last month that he had struck a man and broke his nose after a late-night drinking binge. The wrestler said what really happened was “quite different” from those media reports, but didn’t give his own account of the incident. Asashoryu’s departure is the latest in the series of embarrassing episodes for the once-proud sumo association, which has been jolted by various scandals recently, from the arrests of marijuana-smoking wrestlers to a hazing-death of a trainee. On Monday, the sumo association was shaken by the surprise election of a self-styled reformer to a seat on its powerful board despite the board’s effort to name pre-selected candidates. Still, mishaps by top wrestlers have long been part of the sumo tradition. In 1987, a 24-year-old yokozuna called Futahaguro was forced to step down after a skirmish in his stable led him to beat the wife of the stable master.

In 1949, yokozuna Maedayama lost his job after skipping a match to watch a baseball game played by the San Francisco Seals during the team’s tour of Japan. Asashoryu has repeatedly gotten into trouble, embarrassing the officials of the Japan Sumo Association, the sport’s governing body known for its strict adherence to hierarchy and traditional rituals. In 2007, he was suspended from participating in two tournaments after it was discovered that he had played in a soccer match in Mongolia while taking a break from sumo citing injuries. In another case, he was admonished for grabbing the top knot of his opponent during a match. The association had been investigating Asashoryu’s latest mishap during the days leading to his resignation. Asked to discuss his best memory as a sumo wrestler at the press conference, he said it was beating yokozuna Musashimaru, his arch rival, while his parents watched on the ringside during their visit from Mongolia. “I was so proud of myself,” he said wiping tears off with his fingers.

Asashoryu said he didn’t have specific plans for what he would do after his retirement but added: “To be perfectly honest, I’d like to take a break for a little while.” Write to Yuka Hayashi at yuka.hayashi@wsj.com . NOTE: This article was first published at wsj.com on February 5, 2010. Copyright 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. Visit the website at wsj.com . Questions

Question: The grand champion in which sport is known as a Yokozuna?
Answer: SUMO WRESTLING